Policies are unilateral contracts.  One party gets to make the rules.  The other party gets to follow them.  In the workplace, for example, we’re subject to employment policies.  If we don’t like a particular set of rules we can go work somewhere else.

One of the downsides of being subject to a policy is that you typically have no say over the content.  You’re not the one making the rules.  They are.  You also have no control over how often a policy can get changed.  That gives the policy maker the upper hand.  All you get to do is vote with your feet.

As consumers, we’re subject to the policies of various service providers, such as banks, telephone companies, internet service providers, and yes, social media sites that we belong to. 

When Facebook recently announced that it was changing its privacy policy it caused a tremendous up roar.  Facebook users suddenly realized how vulnerable their information was.   One survey found that nearly 60% were making serious noises about leaving the site.

So what did Facebook do?  It announced an about face (sorry — I couldn’t resist that one).  CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now pledging simplified privacy settings to give users more control.  They are being responsive to their customer base.

And that’s the beauty of policies.  Easy come.  Easy go.  They can be changed in a heartbeat and just as easily changed back again.  

While flexibility is definitely an asset, the Facebook example illustrates how the loss of goodwill should not be underestimated when engaging in policy changes.

Sometimes it just doesn’t seem fair. 

Take the situation Michael Steadman found himself in.  He bought a clock on eBay for $44.  When he got it in the mail it was in three pieces that according to him didn’t fit together or even appeared to be the same model.  He got a refund, but then did what a lot of folks are doing these days on the Internet.  He left his opinion on the seller’s eBay page.  Unfortunately for the seller, it was negative feedback.

More specifically, Michael said “Bad seller; he has the ethics of a used car salesman.”

Well, it turns out that the seller was a lawyer who was none too happy about having his perfect customer approval rating dinged.  So what do you think he did?  That’s right, he sued. 

Michael Steadman’s comment was the “smoking gun” document that formed the basis of a $15,000 defamation claim.  Even if Michael “wins” the suit, he’s already spent $7,000 defending himself and the nightmare is not over yet.  That’s the problem with the economics of justice.  Even if you’re right, it can be expensive to prove.

It reminds me of the story some friends told me over dinner the other night.  Seems their adult son had invented a new sports drink favored by bodybuilder.  His name of choice for the product had a “slight” resemblance to the trademarked name of a popular beverage made by a well known manufacturer who had billions of dollars in marketing expenses invested in it.  When he received a letter from Big Food requesting that he cease and desist use of the name, he did.  He simply didn’t have the money to fight them.

In the sports drink example the company’s cease and desist letter served as a warning shot.  It gave the inventor an opportunity to see the error of his ways and change course before anyone got hurt.  I’m not sure Michael had that opportunity with his disgruntled eBay seller.

You never know how aggressive someone is going to be.  That’s why it makes sense to ramp up your legal literacy.  It improves your decision making and lets you pick your fights instead of getting picked for a fight that is expensive to win or back out of.  Legal literacy can save you money and a lot of emotional wear and tear.

When I opened the newspaper this morning I was saddened to learn about the tragic death of a jogger in Hilton Head Island, SC who was killed yesterday by a single engine airplane making an emergency landing on the beach.  The jogger was listening to his iPod.  He didn’t hear the plane coming.  He never knew what hit him.  He was distracted.

In my experience, businesses distracted by the business of doing business often don’t “hear” lawsuits coming at them either.  They ignore problems that escalate into complaints and then get blindsided by a process server handing them a formal legal complaint (i.e. the lawsuit).  They don’t mean to do that, they’re just distracted.  They learn the hard way that the legal aspects of business are an intregal part of BUSINESS.  The more they can build legal literacy into the DNA of their day-to-day business decisions, the less they’ll have to turn over to the lawyers later on.

Building legal literacy into the business DNA helps keep your business alert without distracting from your business. You’ll be able to pick and choose your legal risk and side step legal landmines.  It sharpens your ability to recognize problems before they flatten you.  It eliminates blind spots.  That’s one of the reasons I wrote The Business Guide to Legal Literacy: What Every Manager Should Know About the Law.  It’s a roadmap to managing your legal risk with more confidence.  It puts you in charge.  It gives you freedom.

Last night’s well attended Ask the No Nonsense Lawyer interview with attorney and mediator David DeLugas provided some awesome insights about how mediation is a quick and easy way for resolving problems and improving business relationships.  He compared it to an invitation to negotiate, the knock on the door that says “Hey, have you got a few minutes?  There’s something I’d like to talk about.  It’s a process that let’s you contribute to the resolution, instead of a lawsuit where someone else (judge and/or jury) decides for you and the remedy is limited by the constraints of the law.  Often the remedies provided by law are not enough. 

I hold these Ask the No Nonsense Lawyer programs approximately once a month because hearing about processes such as mediation from a skilled practitioner and including them in your leadership toolkit is an easy way of taking control of a situation before it takes control of you.  Ask the No Nonsense Lawyer is a complimentary teleseminar program that allows you to call in from anywhere.  All you need is a telephone. 

Future editions of the program will include discussions about how employee-friendly codes of conduct can boost productivity and profitability, as well as how to budget legal costs and keep them from turning into a run away freight train.  

If there’s a topic you’d like to hear about on Ask the No Nonsense Lawyer, please send me a note or leave a comment below.  Oh,  and please stay tuned.  I’ve got some new developments in the works you’re going to love.